Florida’s early voting marred by 6-hour long lines & bomb scare

A federal judge ordered polls in 5 Florida counties – Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange, and Pinellas – to remain open on Sunday after the Democratic Party sued to extend early voting hours to accommodate throngs of voters who waited for hours to cast their ballots.

The emergency lawsuit was filed after Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott rejected calls by the Florida Democratic Party and the League of Women Voters to extend early voting on Sunday so voters who were forced to endure hours-long waits – reportedly as long as 6 to 7 hours – could cast their early ballots.

The Florida Democratic Party argued that the long lines may have prevented or deterred some Floridians from voting.

The 5 counties covered under the court order are predominately Democratic counties, accounting for nearly 1.8 million registered Democrats.

But despite the judge’s order, Miami-Dade’s Republican Mayor Carlos Gimenez ordered the polls to shut down on Sunday but re-opened them a few hours later under public pressure. According to the Miami Herald, frustrated voters waiting outside of one of the Miami-Dade polls yelled, “Let us vote!”

Also, a bomb scare on Saturday forced the evacuation and closure of the polling place at Winter Park Public Library in Orange County. Voters who waited for hours but weren’t able to cast ballots on Saturday were allowed to resume voting between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday under the court order.

Early voting in Florida was shortened by about a week after Scott signed H.B. 1355 – an elections reform bill – pushed through by Republicans in the state legislature in 2011. Previously, Floridians were able to cast in-person early ballots over a 14-day period before the General Election. H.B. 1355 eliminated 6 days of early voting, including the Sunday before the General Election.

Both President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney are battling hard for Florida’s 29 electoral votes. In 2008, Obama won Florida with 51% of the votes. However, recent polls have indicated a virtual tie between Obama and Romney.

As of Monday morning, unofficial figures from the 5 affected counties revealed that nearly 700,000 people cast early in-person ballots: